Tag: Christianity

The Unreality Principle

John C. Wright explains why the Left cannot, and will not, wake up. Not now, not ever.

How long until the Left wake up? The answer is: NEVER.

The Left will never wake up to reality for precisely the reason that Leftism is a mental system of excuses and psychological tricks and traps meant to allow the Leftist to escape from reality.

That is what all their rigmarole, jabberwocky, lies and evasions, all their complex obfuscations, and penning endless tomes of endless nonsense from Marx to Keynes to Al Gore, all their riots, marches, protests, sit-ins, think-tanks, media moguls, money laundering, awards shows, convulsions, antics, stunts, clamor, libel, slander, and cacophony is for: Reality avoidance.

That is all that it is for.

It was not always thus. Perhaps a generation ago, there were Leftists who joined the Democrat Party for what were political reasons, to promote labor unions, impose regulation on banks and businesses in response to some threat, real or imaginary, posed by the free market, or to encourage the welfare state to help the poor.

Perhaps two generations ago, there were real Marxists who really believed that socialism was more efficient and more productive of human wealth than the free market. But after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, no honest person can maintain that socialism is more efficient at encouraging wealth and creating and distributing goods and services than a free market.

All socialism produces are mounds of corpses in mass graves, and gulag-states surrounded by barbed wire, with all guns pointed inward.

Even Bill Clinton, a weasel without an honest bone in his body, announced the era of big government to be over, and took the first step to dismantling the American version of Marxism, Johnson’s Great Society. If he saw socialism as a failure, anyone can see it.

And so the criticism changed strategy. In the shadow of the Holocaust of Jews by the Nazis, where Nazism became the synonym for evil in a world which has ceased to speak of the Devil, racism was identified as the main scourge and flaw of the West, and attempts to eradicate racism by means of embracing multiculturalism became the norm.

This is ironic. Tribalism, racism, and the presumed superiority of one’s own bloodline over any foreigners is the norm of human existence, and only the Christian religion gives anyone any reason to condemn it. Here in the West and here alone is anyone even concerned at calling it evil or trying to eliminate it. It would be like the West trying to wipe out polygamy, when we are the only ones whose culture rejects polygamy. No one else sees it as wrong.

Be that as it may. Multiculturalism is not a doctrine, it is an attitude: the attitude is to praise inferior and savage societies in any ways in which they differ from Christendom, and to blame, scold, vilify and upbraid Christendom for any ways in which we differ from Utopia. It is the attitude of a nagging wife unwilling to divorce a hard-working husband and provider she hates and loathes.  Multiculturalism is nagging.

The nagging is based on the idea that all cultures are equal, and all equally provide for human liberty and human happiness. Skyscraper and yurt: the same. Cathedral and igloo: the same. Wright Brothers and the Cargo Cult of Melanesia: the same. American cosmetics industry and pre-Western Chinese practice of breaking the bones in baby girls’ feet for footbinding: the same. Western abolition of slavery and Hindu caste system: the same. Medical Doctors and Witch-Doctors: the same. Scientific agriculture and Maori cannibalism: the same. Progress and stagnation: the same. Christian martyr and Muslim suicide bomber: the same. Jesus and Mohammed: the same.

See how it works?

The Christian West, with our industrial and scientific revolutions (the byproduct of our Christian metaphysics, university system and Christian individualism) not to mention our legal and juridical advances are held by hypothesis not to have made any particular advances in human liberty and happiness.

Any use of discriminatory judgment between the cultures of, say, the British Empire and he Aztec Empire is the product of bigotry, bias, or race-hatred.

After 9/11, it became clear that not all cultures equally provide for human liberty and happiness. Indeed, it is clear enough to any honest observer that come cultures are productive of vast misery and vast oppression, especially oppression of women, of children, of the weak and helpless. The growing slave trade in underage boys used as catamites by the Muslim is a clear enough sign of this, as well as the rape statistics that follow Muslim migrants entering Europe.

In recent years, with the cult of multiculturalism dead, and Marxism rightfully tossed into the crematorium of dead yet stupid ideas, the only thing left for the Left to do was to break all ties with honesty.

Political Correctness has its roots in Stalinism, and is as old as Marx himself, as old as the first lie every told by a snake in Eden. But since 9/11, with both their idols of multiculturalism and socialism smashed, the press and the Left generally expelled their less extreme elements from their midst, or shamed them into silence, and embraced falsehood as the source and summit of all good.

This is what I call ‘the Unreality Principle’ which is the principle that a lie is better than the truth because to lie and to believe a lie proves one’s loyalty. To lie and believe lies is morally superior than to tell and believe the truth, and the more outrageous the lie, the greater the moral superiority one can award oneself.

This is why you have to turn your back on them. This is why you have to reject them and refuse to have anything to do with them. They literally live in a different reality than you do; it is no less influential on their attitude and behavior than the real world despite being entirely imaginary.

There is one thing, and only one thing, capable of reliably cutting through the Unreality Principle and that is Jesus Christ. Logic can’t. Science can’t. Rhetoric can’t. Bonhomie and good will to Men can’t.

Jesus himself told his disciples to turn their backs and brush the dirt from their feet in response to those who would not listen. Do the same.

Things for which I am thankful

  • My family. I am truly appreciative of them as well as the fact that I am able to spend so much time with them.
  • My blog readers. It is thanks to you that I am able to take so many risks and try so many new things. Both the material support and the substantive criticism are tremendously valuable.
  • The societal wealth and peace of the last 65 years. Yes, it has softened us. Yes, it has had consequences that will prove civilizationally damaging at best, fatal at worst. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are the most materially blessed generation in human history. We will only fully appreciate the innocence of that time when even the illusion of it is gone.
  • The grace and mercy of God. The older one grows, the more one sees and the more one becomes unwillingly aware of how totally and completely the world is corrupt and fallen. In time, every illusion, no matter how cherished, fades and the tawdry greed, lust, and depravity that lie beneath is revealed. But God remains eternal and His grace abounds.
  • The foolishness of our enemies. They are many. They are merciless. They are cunning. They are indefatigable. But they are blind to the truth, and that makes them reliably vulnerable.
  • History. Can you imagine what codswallop the media would be able to make us swallow were it not for the written record? No wonder it is always Year Zero for the Left.
  • The Vile Faceless Minions. There is something about having one’s own social media army that is strangely… comforting. They are so effective that I’ve not able to utilize even a tenth of their strength in order to accomplish my objectives. Apparently I need to begin thinking bigger.
  • The Castalia House authors. They are not only a talented group of writers, they are a fine collection of intelligent, high-quality individuals. It is a genuine privilege to be associated with them.
  • The Castalia House volunteers. Without them, we could not have accomplished half of what we have been able to do. They are the turbo boost to our engine.
  • Team Alpenwolf and allies. Other than Markku, you don’t know them yet. But they are going to make Castalia’s success look like a footnote.
  • The Brainstorm members. It started as a complete accident, but they have somehow transformed into the hard intellectual core of the Dread Ilk. It’s tremendously useful to be able to bounce ideas off them. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

    Christmas is Christ’s Mass

    Atheists, seculars, and anti-Christian Jews can try to take the Christ out of Christmas, but they will always fail. And since they’re going to try, we should simply stop recognizing their parasitical celebration of the hollowed-out, lifeless “festival of lights” with which they wish to replace it.

    Cinemas should ban all Christmas adverts after refusing to screen a commercial featuring the Lord’s Prayer because of its religious content, the Church of England has said.

    The Church is threatening to take legal action against Digital Cinema Media (DCM), which handles adverts for cinema giants Odeon, Vue and Cineworld, after it barred an advert featuring the Archbishop of Canterbury encouraging prayer.

    DCM told the Church the advert risked “upsetting or offending audiences” and pointed to its policy document barring commercials that advertised “any religion, faith or equivalent systems of belief” or “any part” of any such religion or faith.

    Rev Arun Arora, the Church of England’s director of communications, told the Telegraph: “If they want to be consistent on not carrying any ads that have any connection with religious belief, I’d like them to cancel all ads linked to Christmas as a Christian festival.

    “If they’d like to apply it consistently, ban every ad that mentions Christmas.” 

    What most Christians haven’t realized, much less accepted, yet is that religious multiculturalism doesn’t work any better than the ethnic version. Freedom of religion only works so long as there is a tolerant religion that is sufficiently dominant; it ceases to function as soon as the minority religions become influential enough to challenge its cultural dominance and impose their own, less tolerant perspective.

    Since the First Amendment has been dishonestly interpreted in a broadly expansive manner that does little more than attack Christianity, it is now time for Christians to cease respecting the concept of freedom of religion and become every bit as intolerant of other religions and anti-religious philosophies as those religions are of Christianity.

    In this regard, perhaps a list should be created of all corporations that refuse to respect the Christian aspect of Christmas, so that Christians can refuse to do business with them during the Christmas season.

    McRapey tries theology

    The Bernie Madoff of science fiction is branching out into applied theology. Shall we not all devote our attention to him and sit at his feet that he might shower his exegetical wisdom upon us?

    Here’s a parable that has relevance today. It features a fellow many profess to love but fewer seem to know.

    But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

    In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

    “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

     The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

    Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

    Johnny Con, you’re not a Christian. You have rejected Jesus Christ and
    his teachings. You don’t get to misquote his words or claim that the
    hundreds of millions of Christians, who don’t want the very people who
    wiped out their faith across the Middle East to be given the opportunity
    to repeat the process in the West, don’t know him.

    First, the Good Samaritan helped the man. He gave him some money. He didn’t move the man into his house, provide him with room and board, then permit the man to have his wife, children, parents, and cousins move in and live off the largesse of the Good Samaritan while raping his children, stealing his cars, and trashing his yard.

    To have mercy on alien people is not to pay for them to literally become your neighbor and live next door to you. One would think that a professional writer would grasp the difference between a metaphor and a literal command.

    The true Christian position on refugees is to be found in Matthew 15:21-28:

    Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
     
    Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
     
    He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
     
    The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
     
    He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

    It is good and right to help those of other nations with “the crumbs that fall from their master’s table”. But that is all. To do more is to deprive our posterity, which Jesus himself said is not right.

    John Scalzi does not know Jesus Christ. He does not know the Bible. He does not know Christian theology. He pretends to, but then, as it is said, SJWs always lie.

    And we all know who their Father is. He misquotes Scripture for his own purposes too.

    The wages of female “pastorship”

    It is death for a church. OL writes:

    Just wanted to let you know that the church-in-exile formally known as North Heights Lutheran have been given an excerpt of SWJAL. It is currently making the rounds as they come to grips with the fact that their church has been stolen. It is a textbook example of what happens when you try to play nice with evil rather then curb stomp it. Although it is really to late for them the lesson can be shown to those that will listen, perhaps on how to prevent this from occurring elsewhere.

    Although I’ve attended North Heights a few times in the long-distant past and my parents were friends with the pastor, I didn’t have any idea what happened there. This story is spun in the SJWs’ favor, but if you read between the lines it’s not hard to figure out what took place. SJWs invade, take over the decision-making high ground, chase off half the congregation with their anti-Christian social justice theology, then start shutting down churches to sell the land.

    One of the state’s original mega-churches is in trouble.

    North Heights Lutheran Church in Arden Hills laid off half its staff in June and closed a satellite church in Roseville. That closure led half of the parishioners to split away and worship in a nearby motel — and church loyalists are feeling betrayed.

    The church faces a crossroads.

    “We are either going to be reborn,” said interim pastor Mindy Bak, in a silent church hallway, “or we are going to go through a slow death.”

    The combination of financial problems, downsizing and, some say, a female pastor has led to a schism in the church, threatening its future as recriminations fly back and forth.

    The breakaway group is posting its complaints on a website called “Church torn apart.

    “They accuse church leaders of being deceptive, even “satanic.”

    But most of their objections, said Bak, are related to her gender — they don’t want a woman to lead their church.

    “If you carry that prejudice,” Bak said, “how can you serve the community?”

    Meanwhile, Sunday attendance has dropped two-thirds from its peak. 

    Notice that “the community” is the SJW’s concern. Not serving Jesus Christ. This is exactly what social justice convergence in the Christian Church looks like today; a deep concern for “the community” and “the world” and absolutely no concern for Jesus Christ, Christianity, or the Church.

    Never permit female leadership in the Church. It will absolutely kill any church that is foolish enough to do so after seeing what has happened in every single church that has done so already. The sort of women who want to be church leaders are almost invariably SJWs; when appointing a female pastor you might as well put up a sign announcing that the church has changed denominations from Baptist or Methodist or whatever to Social Justice.

    Notice how the invaders always end up with the buildings and the land. They don’t give a damn about God or the congregation. “We are either going to be reborn or we are going to go through a slow death.” What does that tell you? The one thing that isn’t an option is for a successful Christian congregation to carry on as before, simply God in the name of Jesus Christ.

    This phenomenon of the “stolen church” is not new. This is the third case of which I have heard and the second time it has happened to a church I personally attended at one point or another. Paul warned about this; most church leaderships have been absolutely derelict in their duty to police their congregations, and in particular, their elders.

    UPDATE: it gets worse:

    Just heard from my mother that the “vision” of the female pastor is to integrate Muslims and Christians in a new progressive church. They call it Chrislam.

    Mailvox: blaming the victim

    RS mistakenly blames Christianity for the West’s civilizational suicide:

    I’ve never read any of your books; just snippets of things here and
    there.  Its safe to say we share the same politics, which is the reason
    for my writing you. I am a wannabe Christian, but I am running up
    against that wall of egalitarianism that seems to be a big part of the
    faith.  Love your enemies and all that. Specifically, the Muslim
    invasion that is happening in Europe right now.  I am furious over
    that.  I have the suspicion that at the root of this civilizational
    suicide is Christianity’s egalitarianism.  Now my concerns about this
    “migration” are not racial or ethnic but rather cultural and
    ideological.  I have a lot of sympathy for Christians who are fleeing
    trouble; even if they are fleeing economic trouble.  Its the muslims I
    fear and yes, detest.

    Do you struggle with this?  How
    can one be a Christian and still want to fight to protect the West
    (since we are supposed to love even our enemies)?

    Considering that Europe no longer calls itself “Christendom” and collectively flaunts its post-Christian status, I think it is absolutely bizarre to postulate that the roots of the civilizational suicide are to be found in Christian egalitarianism. After all, according to Christianity, there is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ Jesus, but Christianity deems itself “in but not of the world” and does not even concern itself with interfering in the relationship between master and slave, let alone global wealth redistribution and population flows.

    What you are reacting to is Churchianity and it has absolutely nothing to do with Christian theology, it is merely one of the wolves in sheep’s clothing about which the Apostle Paul warned us. Never confuse the wolf in sheep’s clothing for the sheep or the sheep-stealing thief for the shepherd.

    In fact, the religion of Churchianity is the same as the religion of the multiculturalists and globalists, it is the worldly religion of Babel. The Christian perspective intrinsically takes “the nations” into account, each with their own identity and even ruling spirits. Transnational egalitarianism and globalism are not Christian; quite to the contrary, they are rabidly, viciously, feverishly opposed to Christianity. It was not Christians who made “egalite’” the motto of the French Revolution.

    And don’t be surprised if the rise of European nationalism is accompanied by the widespread rejection of European post-Christianity. What you are seeing is the failure of secularism, not the failure of Christianity.

    SJWs in the Church of Scotland

    Here we not only see the consequences of entryism, but further evidence in support of the truism: SJWs always lie. In which David Robertson learns that he should have read the book before debating a Scottish wolf in sheep’s clothing:

    At one level I was excited. Because the church was packed with over 250 people on a midweek evening to discuss theology; because I liked Scott when I had met him previously and believed that he genuinely wanted to have an open discussion about these vital issues; because it was a great opportunity to speak the good news in a different context. But I was also aware there was something else going on. I won’t go into details but I was under considerable pressure to back off and indeed even to give up and walk away. Even as I walked into the church I sensed not only the sense of anticipation but also the hostility from some, and also a strange sense that something was wrong.

    This was made worse when I went into the vestry and met with Scott and Rev John Chalmers, the former Moderator who was there to replace the current Moderator, Rev Angus Morrison, who had called off because of a sore throat. John informed me at 7:25pm that the event would not be recorded. I was somewhat surprised at this because in setting up the event we had offered to film it and we were assured that there was no need to do so because the Church would do so and put it online.   This was an important aspect of the evening as this was a public discussion about subjects of vital importance to the whole church, and rather than rely on out of context quotes and sound bites reported on social media, it was important that people could hear and see the whole debate for themselves.(the interest and demand from people from people has been phenomenal). So I insisted that it be recorded and they agreed.

    We went out, had the debate which went much as I had expected. Scott denied the Bible, called the atoning work of Christ on the cross barbaric (and Calvinist!) and at the end suggested that the future of the Church in Scotland rested on leadership styles like the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury as well as ‘mindfulness’.  I did my best to answer him in as biblical and gracious a way as possible. (I accept that I got some things wrong, said some things in a wrong way, wish I had said others,  and sometimes let my tongue run away with things-  God have mercy on me, a sinner).  My concern was for Scott and also for those who hear him preach, that he would turn away from his heresy and man-made gospel which is no gospel at all.   At this point I would normally suggest that you go to the video and judge for yourselves. Except even as I write, the video has been destroyed…. I was informed on the Thursday that the video would not be put online because I had hurt Scott’s feelings by suggesting that I would excommunicate him if he were a member of my church.   He also thought that it would not be a good witness, and he did not want that statement put online (ironically of course it was put on line immediately and tweeted all over the place by some of his supporters).  He informed me today, after further correspondence that he had instructed that the tapes be destroyed.

    Why destroy the tapes? What was so incriminating on them?  It was not to
    preserve Scott’s hurt feelings. Nor was it because they are concerned
    about Christian witness.

    This quote from the following letter I received from a life long Church of Scotland couple helps explain why: “We
    too were horrified to learn in March of Mr. McKenna’s denial of the
    atonement. We protested to Edinburgh Presbytery expecting disciplinary
    action. None was forthcoming and we felt made to feel wrong for
    mentioning this fundamental aspect of the faith. We fear that Mr.
    McKenna is not only risking God’s judgement on himself but also on his
    congregation and the rest of us for doing nothing.”

    The
    unpalatable truth for evangelicals and traditional Presbyterians is that
    Scott McKenna is not on the eccentric fringes of the Church of
    Scotland. He is one of its mainstream leaders who I suspect is being
    lined up for higher office. To have such a man openly and publicly
    teach such heresy (which itself is against the standards and teachings
    of the C of S) would be the last straw for many such people. So in order
    to do damage limitation, and prevent more people joining the growing
    exodus from the C of S, they decided to try and bury the evidence.

    This is why you ALWAYS record interviews and debates YOURSELF. ALWAYS. No exceptions. It won’t prevent the media from cherry-picking any mistakes or controversies and making the most of them, but it will prevent them from lying about what you have said and hiding the mistakes and infelicities of their own side.

    David Robertson made the mistake that most people make when dealing with SJWs. He fucked up; he trusted them. But SJWs always lie! You cannot trust them, you cannot trust one single thing they say.

    The problem is that until recently, no one who has dealt with an SJW and been played for a fool has seen the pattern, much less explained it to anyone else. That’s why it is important to understand the pattern and spread the word about it; SJWs are a civilization-wide menace as Western civilization is under massive assault by the servitors of social justice.

    So that is a prime directive. ALWAYS RECORD ALL INTERACTIONS WITH SJWs. Because First Law of SJW. If the law requires their permission and they won’t grant it, then don’t talk to them. I’ve put this into practice myself, as whenever I get a request for an interview these days, I inform them that I will be recording it myself.

    UPDATE: Fortunately, someone recorded the audio and provided a transcript. And it is no wonder that the SJWs in the Church of Scotland tried to erase Scott McKenna’s words. They clearly demonstrate that he isn’t a Christian and he should be excommunicated from the Church without any need for further discussion.

    I was talking about penal substitutionary atonement which is the notion that, in order to satisfy the wrath, the anger of God who had been offended by the wrath of God, that Jesus had to die as a blood sacrifice to pay for this sin, in order to satisfy the wrath of God. Now I would be saying that I think this leaves us with a fairly despotic… despot of a god; a barbaric god who is vindictive and immoral. Now this is not unique to me. This is not radical theology. You will find this theology in numerous places including a number of evangelicals.

    That may not be radical theology, but it also isn’t Christian theology. And while some “evangelicals” do subscribe to it, they are not evangelical Christians, they are atheist evangelicals in the mode of Richard Dawkins.

    Churchian cucks preaching Babelism

    Terrible theology + kissing the world’s unwiped backside leads to cucky Churchians preaching the gospel of Babel:

    As the Senate recently passed long
    awaited immigration overhaul and the bill now heads to the House, the
    long-standing national discourse on the issue of immigration will likely
    heat up again. As we participate in these discussions, my hope is that
    we, especially as Christians tasked with peacemaking and reconciling,
    will find ways to build bridges instead of erecting walls. As a first
    step in this bridge building, I pray that once and for all, we will stop
    using the term “illegal immigrant.”
    Here’s why:

    1. The term “illegal immigrant” is a misleading and dishonest term, which violates the 9th commandment.

    2. The term “illegal” singles out those who committed one, specific,
    federal misdemeanor, but is never applied to other violations.

    3. The term “illegal immigrant” has morphed into a racial epithet.

    4. The term “illegal immigrant” cultivates hostility, animosity, and mistrust against our neighbors.

    5. The term “illegal immigrant” is dehumanizing.   

    1. No, it does not. In fact, the author is lying. “Illegal immigrant” is an accurate and honest term that precisely describes the status of the individual so described.
    2. Considering that my father is often described as “a tax evader”, this is obviously false. Most “murderers” are not serial killers, after all.
    3. No, it hasn’t. What race does “illegal immigrant” refer to?
    4. No, immigration, especially illegal immigration, cultivates hostility, animosity, and mistrust against our neighbors. 
    5. This is ridiculous. Only humans are described as “illegal immigrants”. I have never heard of migrating birds being described that way.

    Churchians are liars and deceivers. They worship the god of Babel, not the Christian God. They serve the world, not Jesus Christ.

      The dangerous faith

      I doubt it has escaped anyone’s attention that with a few exceptions, the atheists, agnostics, and pagans around the world are content to make common cause with very nearly any religion except for one particular faith. As J.B. Bury observed nearly 100 years ago in his epic Cambridge Medieval History, which I cannot recommend more highly, this is not a new development:

      Jesus Himself, had His followers allowed, might have had a place between Dionysos and Isis; but Christianity, which according to Porphyry had departed widely from the simple teaching of the mystic of Galilee, was sternly excluded from the Neoplatonist brotherhood of religions. Its idea of a creation in time seemed irreligious to Porphyry; its doctrine of the Incarnation introduced a false conception of the union between God and the world; its teaching about the end of all things he thought both irreverent and irreligious; above all things its claim to be the one religion, its exclusiveness, was hateful to him. He was too noble a man (philosopkus nobilis, says Augustine) not to sympathise with much in Christianity, and seems to have appreciated it more and more in his later writings Still his opinion remained unchanged: “The gods have declared Christ to have been most pious; he has become immortal, and by them his memory is cherished. Whereas the Christians are a polluted set, contaminated and enmeshed in error.” Christianity was the one religion to be fought against and if possible conquered.

      What Neoplatonism did theoretically the force of circumstances accomplished on. the practical side. The Oriental creeds had not merely gained multitudes of private worshippers; they had forced their way among the public deities of Rome. Isis, Mithra, Sol Invictus, Dea Syra, the Great Mother, took their places alongside of Jupiter, Venus, Mars, etc., and the Sacra peregrina appeared on the calendar of public festivals. As most of these Oriental cults contained within them the monotheist idea it is possible that they might have fought for preeminence and each aspired to become the official religion of the Empire. But they all recognised Christianity to be a common danger, and M. Cumont has shewn that this feeling united them and made them think and act as one.

      From Communists to Muslims to SJWs, various philosophies and religions have been more than happy to attempt to coopt Jesus Christ, because they believe he is dead. What they cannot countenance are the servants of the Living God, the followers of the Risen Christ, who despite our manifold failings, our observable flaws, our complete falling short of the glory of the God we worship, insist on attempting to tread upon the hard and narrow path rather than obediently follow the gentle, easy, thoughtless ways they advocate.

      Christianity is the dangerous faith because it is the one faith that is rooted in truth rather than lies. It is the one real connection Man can make to the Divine. Yes, our understandings are imperfect, yes, we see as though through a glass, darkly, yes, our interpretations are various and contradictory, and yet, only in doing so, only through relentlessly pursuing the truth to the best of our ability can we begin to approach Truth.

      Those who consider Christians to be self-righteous entirely miss the point, including those who consider themselves to be righteous Christians. To be forgiven is not the same as being sinless. To be repentant is not the same as to be blameless. It is not necessary to put on sackcloth and with Augustine melodramatically label ourselves the worst of all sinners to recognize that we are no better, and in some cases are considerably worse, than the virtuous pagan.

      For better or for worse, we are who we are. We have done what we have done and we can never change the past. But what we don’t have to do is remain broken, frightened, sin-enslaved beings. That, through the grace of God, is the one thing we can change.

      And that is what the enemies of God, in all their various guises, cannot abide. Because that is the one freedom they can never offer.